Requiem for the Innocent
by Silver Spider
Summary: Young Kall-Su's nightmares threaten to tear apart his mind. Who will he turn to for help? Who will understand his pain. The answer may surprise you.


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Author's Note: As I already said in my poems I love angsty characters, thus I prefer to write about Arshes and Kall. I read lots of Bastard!! stuff, and I notice that Arshes and Kall don't seem to get along very well. The theory is that they both competed for D.S. attention, and since D.S. clearly favored Arshes, Kall was bitter. What I want to know is, how were things between them in the beginning when they were little and before Arshes and D.S. became lovers? Here's one theory.

Since I don't know how half-elves or half-demons age, Arshes is relatively six or seven, and Kall is relatively ten or eleven. From the anime flashbacks, I thought he looked a little older than Arshes.

On another note, I used to baby-sit for a little girl who had night terrors. She would get out of bed crying and mumbling to herself, and even though her eyes would be open she was still asleep. Therefore I can imagine what Kall's nightmares may be like.

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Requiem for the Innocent

By: Silver Spider

Kall-Su suffered from nightmares. It was the one thing above all else that defined his personality. His violent visions were vivid and intense, much more so than those of Arshes Nei. The half-elvin girl dreamed of the pain she suffered at the hands of her tribe, but she was very absorbed by her new life, and when the nightmares did come, she always found comfort and haven with Dark Schneider. She was no longer afraid of the shadows that came with the setting sun.

Kall was different. He seemed forever haunted by the voices of the children who lost their lives at the outburst of his destructive power. Behind closed lids, he still saw his mother's face as she drew her last breath. After a while he simply stopped closing his eyes. The shadows in the night took the shapes of the dead ones, and Kall rarely found comfort in the solitude of his cold chamber. He couldn't go to Schneider; the wizard wouldn't understand, but there was one person in the castle who might.

It was late autumn and the night air was cold, so Arshes Nie was quite content to cuddle under the warm covers and simply lie quietly. Schneider had come an hour earlier to bid her goodnight. He'd soothed her dark locks behind pointed ears, asking the girl to stay in her own room that night and not to disturb him. The half-elf giggled, knowing full well what such a request implied. She was nearly asleep when the door to her room creaked open. Arshes rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. A shadow slowly crawled from the doorway.

"Hello?" her voice was apprehensive as she called out into the darkness.

There was no reply, and but the movement of the shadow stopped abruptly. Arshes waited for the clouds outside to clear and let the moon fill her chamber with soft light, which reviled the small form of Kall-Su. His platinum blond hair looked tousled, sticking out in every direction. The blue nightshirt was wrinkled as if he'd tossed and turned in bed unable to find sleep. There was a look in his violet eyes that cried out for help, and though the boy did not utter a single word, Arshes could feel pain and fear rolling of him in waves.

Wordlessly she pulled back the edge of her covers indicating for him to come. Relieved that he wasn't rejected, Kall walked over to the bed and climbed in after her. He still didn't speak, only curled on his side at the edge of the bed and tightly shut his eyes. The pain lessened, but Arshes could see he was still greatly distressed, mostly by the deep frown that marred his young features. Hoping to be a source of some comfort, the girl wrapped her arms around him, and Kall instantly stiffened. His body was larger than hers, so Arshes couldn't reach all the way around him, but Kall was grateful for the mere attempt. He relaxed a bit, and Arshes smiled to herself, satisfied that her job was well done. Resting her head against his back, she closed her eyes and finally fell into slumber.

* * * * * * * * * *

Arshes awoke two hours later to find herself alone in bed. She sat up and looked around but couldn't find a trace of Kall-Su. Scrambling out of bed, she padded bare foot across the smooth wooden floor and out into the hall. Upon reaching Kall's chamber, Arshes discovered that he wasn't there either. Somehow she got the feeling that the boy was in trouble. She wasn't sure of the cause of his turmoil, but Arshes knew that she lacked the power to help him.

Disregarding Schneider's request not to disturb him, the half-elf rushed to her guardian's chamber. She paused at the door, unsure if she should intrude, then decided that Kall's safety was in question and lightly knocked on the door. There was a grunt, then Schneider's angry gruff voice sounded from inside.

"Unless you want to end up slowly skinned alive, I suggest you leave! Now!" Arshes reeled back from the door in disgust, but soon realized that Schneider probably didn't know who had knocked.

Determined to get his attention, she tried again, this time calling out. "Darsh?"

From behind the door she could distinguish a deep sigh then a rustling of sheets. Seconds later the door swung open and the wizard's dark gaze bore down at her.

"Yes?" his tone was harsh, and the girl suddenly didn't feel so brave. She took a deep breath and blurted it all out quickly.

"Kall-Su came to my room, and he looked scared so I let him stay, but then I woke up and he wasn't there, and I was worried so I came to get you, and I think he's in trouble!" She stopped and tried to catch her breath, then looked up at Schneider, hoping he was not too angry with her. The wizard raised an eyebrow, then a slow smirk crept across his face, and he burst out laughing. Arshes took this as a bad sign; he hadn't taken her seriously.

"You're luck you're so cute," he bent down on one knee so that they were at eye level. "Did you bother to check his room?" Arshes nodded vigorously, which caused Schneider to frown. He thought for a moment, glanced over his shoulder at his own chamber, then got up, taking Arshes' hand. "Then I guess we'll just have to go find him. Come on."

Relived that he'd believed her, Arshes followed the wizard down the hallway. They passed through several levels of the castle with no sign of the boy. At one point Schneider walked by a window without bothering to look out, but for some reason it caught Arshes' attention. She tried to look outside, but the girl was simply to small to see over the edge. Schneider looked over at her while she tried to jump high enough to see, shaking his head somewhere between amusement and frustration. He picked her up and looked out the window to see what was so interesting that the girl would be distracted from the search. He understood immediately: within their view, about ten yards from the castle gates stood an old, crumbling building.

"Darsh, what's that?" the girl regarded him with curious scarlet eyes.

"It's… it's an old church," the wizard replied, realizing that Kall's haunting memories may have driven the boy there. "That must be where he is."

When Dark Schneider and his armies had captured the small country, the church was already halfway run down. It seems that whoever lived there before had little use for religion, a fact that Schneider almost admired. However that admiration didn't stop him from taking the country. When they neared the church, Schneider saw that the great wooden gate was already open, barely hanging on its rusted old hinges. Inside, the church was cold and damp, mostly due to the fact that it was flooded a foot deep. The building lacked a proper floor, so the water had turned soil into mud.

"Kall-Su!" the wizard called out and was rewarded with a soft whimper from the corner of the church. Schneider made his way to Kall, who was huddled in the corner tightly clutching his knees. Arshes followed, ignoring the fact that she was barefoot and sank into the mud ankle deep. Finally reaching the boy, she gasped in fear. Kall's violet eyes were open, but there wasn't a single sign of life in them, no hint of a sole. They were clouded and dull. Tears were streaming down his face, but the boy didn't blink them away. Arshes' heart painfully tightened at this sight.

"Time to snap out of it, kid," Schneider said rather harshly. He reached over to shake the boy's shoulder, but Kall flinched back. Schneider frowned; physically the boy was whole, but there was something in his mind that was leaking through.

"No, please, no don't… I didn't mean to," the boy mumbled through his tears. "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me. I'm sorry, I'll be good."

Schneider snapped his fingers in front of Kall's face, but the boy didn't react, simply kept sobbing quietly. The wizard was at a loss as to what to do with the boy; physical injuries he could heal easily with simple spells, but mental damage was a more delicate and complicated matter. He was not even sure if the boy was seeing waking dreams or sleepwalking through a nightmare. Most likely it was the later: Kall didn't appear to be coherent in any shape or form. He continued to cry and mumble to himself.

Frustrated and annoyed, Schneider finally decided to take the boy back to his chamber, by force if he had to, and figure out what to do there. However before he had a chance to do anything, Schneider noticed Arshes. He watched with interest as the younger child kneeled by the boy and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding his head to her chest and running her fingers through his soft blond locks. Schneider failed to see the peruse of the gesture.

"Arsh," he addressed the girl. "What are you doing?"

"Well," it was a little difficult for her to explain, "whenever I'm scared, you hold me and tell me that everything would be okay and that you love me. So maybe that's what Kall needs: for someone to hold him," she turned her attention back to the boy. "It's okay, Kall. Nobody will hurt you. Everything will be alright."

To Schneider's surprise, Kall's violet eyes cleared a bit. The boy blinked and looked up, first at the half-elf then at Schneider. He quickly scrambled to his feet. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Schneider replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Are you okay?" he turned his head when the half-elvin girl tugged on the sleeve of his tunic.

"I suppose," the boy replied rather absently.

"You suppose?" Schneider repeated, not at all pleased with Kall-Su. "You leave in the middle of the night, interrupt my…" he caught himself when he saw that Kall and Arshes were giving him curious looks.

"Interrupted what, Darsh?" the little girl tried her best not to giggle.

Schneider glared at his adopted daughter then pointedly cleared his throat. "You scared Arshes."

"I wasn't scared," she protested, which earned her another scowl. "Just worried."

The wizard sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Forget it. The two of you, just go get cleaned up and go back to bed. We can talk about this in the morning." He and Arshes began to walk out of the church, but Kall hesitated. Schneider's pacence was beginning to run very thin. "What now, boy?"

"I… I'm sorry," Kall stumbled over his words. "It's just that I… I don't want to be alone."

"Don't worry," Arshes said quickly before Schneider had a chance to become angry. "You can stay with me. Is that okay, Darsh?"

"Fine. Whatever," he waved his hand impatiently. "Have your little sleep-over, just don't bother me again."

* * * * * * * * * *

After returning to the castle and a bath, Schneider made sure that both of his adopted children were well enough to sleep through the rest of the night. Kall was still a bit too shaken, but Arshes was already yawning and rubbing her eyes sleepily. Finally satisfied that both would be alright, Schneider returned to his chamber. Arshes sat down cross legged on top of her bed sheets, waiting for Kall to slip into a fresh night-shirt in the small bathroom adjacent to her room.She fiddled with the lace hem of her lavender silk night gown, then sniffed and wrinkled her nose.

"Who were they?" her small voice was barley audible.

"Humm?" Kall's blond head stuck out from the bathroom doorway. "Who?"

"Those people," her scarlet red eyes wouldn't confront his violet ones. "The people who hurt you."

There was a long silence between them. Both children looked at the floor, not quite sure what to say. Finally, the older boy walked across the room and climbed onto the bed next to her. Another moment of silence passed before he spoke.

"What makes you think anyone hurt me?"

"Because," she whispered, "that look in your eyes. I've seen it before. Sometimes, when Darsh isn't here, I get scared and think that _they_ will come and hurt me again, and after I cry, I see that look in the mirror."

"Yeah," Kall nodded. "Sometimes I think they will come back."

"But Darsh will protect us," Arshes crawled across the bed to curl up into a ball on Kall's lap.

"Huh," the older boy ran his fingers through her long waves of hair, but he didn't sound at all convinced.

"He will!" she insisted looking up at him, "but … if he doesn't, then I'll take care of you."

"_You_'ll take care of _me_?" Kall was amused at the little girl's insistence. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? I am older, you know."

"Then we'll take care of each other," she offered, and he smiled.

"Yes, we will," Kall promised.

"Hey!" there was a loud knock on the door accompanied by Schneider's voice. "I only allowed for this sleep over if the two of you would actually sleep!"

"We will, Darsh," Arshes yelled back, then ditched herself from Kall and climbed under the covers. Kall followed her example, this time making himself comfortable next to the wall. Arshes snuggled at his right side, and for the first time in years, Kall-Su finally felt at peace.

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Author's End Note: Poor Kall! Don't you just want to hug him and feed him chicken soup? So how'd I do with this topic? Cute and angsty, right? Tell me what you think. I'll have another fic up soon, one about the later stages of Kall's relationship with Arshes. I'll even give you a hint: read the summaries for the Bastard!! novels.


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